A rally, a march in the streets and abstention from work, school and shopping.
Those choosing to mark May Day 2026 in Detroit have multiple ways to go about it, as unions and protest groups take various approaches to the day also known as International Workers’ Day.
The date of Friday, May 1, honors workers, memorializes deaths tied to the fight for an 8-hour workday in 1886 and serves as the anniversary of the 2006 “A Day Without Immigrants” strike. It’s also become a chance for opponents of the Trump administration to further speak out.
Following the last national day of action against the administration in March, those behind the No Kings Day efforts threw their support behind mass action on May Day in an announcement with the AFL-CIO president.
In metro Detroit, several gatherings are scheduled to take place on overpasses. In the city itself, the Metro Detroit AFL-CIO is expected to host a rally, and protest groups previously indicated a plan to march and some of those involved seek to flex the average citizen’s economic power by withholding spending and labor.
The theme? “Workers Over Billionaires.”
“It’s getting harder and harder for working people to get by,” said Metro Detroit AFL-CIO executive board member Justin Steenbergh from IBEW Local 58 Detroit.
May 1 rally in Detroit’s Roosevelt Park
The rally led by his group will be held at 4 p.m. Friday, May 1, in front of Michigan Central in Detroit’s Corktown, and the call to action will be for attendees to support unions, join unions and start unions.
Steenbergh expected anti-President Donald Trump sentiments would be part of the gathering. He’s previously said the president has not been a friend to labor – an idea the White House pushed back on − and ahead of the rally on Friday, said the focus on and deportation of immigrants is a concern for labor, too.
They are some of the most exploited workers already, raids by immigration agents are causing disturbances in the workplace, and the day is for workers across borders, Steenbergh said. Beyond that, he said, immigration enforcement is not applied evenly.
“This billionaire class can essentially operate without regard to borders. … Labor should be a global entity, too,” he said.
White House on May Day rallies, ‘no work, no school, no shopping’
Asked for comment, the White House directed the Free Press to a prior statement on May Day actions.
In that statement, White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers said Trump’s bold leadership has led to long-overdue reforms and exclusively benefited American-born workers.
“President Trump has done more than any president in modern history to put American workers first,” Rogers said.
Protesters to join with unions for Detroit May 1 rally
The unions and protest groups taking action on May 1 have shared causes, according to Loren Branch, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation and Asamblea Popular Detroit, or the Detroit Peoples Assembly.
Branch is part of a contingent bringing a national call for an economic blackout to Detroit, an effort separate from the May Day actions by the local AFL-CIO.
The contingent seeks to get immigration agents out of communities, end the war in Iran, end the devastation in Palestine, end the cost-of-living crisis, and more.
“The reality is the people who are enacting these attacks are the U.S. government in service of billionaires,” he said.
It will take general strike efforts to get their demands met, Branch said.
Steenbergh called that strike effort a “strategic mistake,” because such an effort needs more organizing and everybody on board. He noted some unions have no-strike clauses, and he believes people are not ready for the effort yet.
Branch, whose coalition plans to attend the rally to support unions, said he agrees that a mass general strike needs more organizing. The effort on May 1 is a way to build the movement toward that and raise awareness about using a strike as a tactic, he said.
A May 1 general strike?
On a national press call for the May Day Strong movement, Stacy Davis Gates, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, responded to a question about the language of “no work, no school, no shopping” being used in national messaging instead of “strike.” She was also asked to clarify what is being asked of union workers.
She said union leaders know to ask for what they want and referred to May Day as a “structure test.”
“How many people can show up to this year’s May Day more than they showed up to last year’s May Day?” she said.
At least one union leader from Missouri on the call did refer to the action as a strike. In places like New Orleans, some workers intend to begin a strike in connection with bargaining concerns. In North Carolina, where public school teachers cannot legally strike, another leader noted that teachers are using personal days to protest.
In Detroit, small businesses, including Cairo Coffee, planned to close on Friday. The owner is also part of the Yemeni Liberation Movement, involved with the efforts on May 1.
Online flyers note that a march is planned for 6 p.m. after the union-led rally, starting at the same location.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: May Day 2026 actions planned in Detroit
Reporting by Darcie Moran, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
